Parkour is now a sport

Hi everyone, welcome back to my hobbies and leisure blog. Seeing as the UK has just become the first country to officially recognise Parkour as a sport I wanted to give you a bit of background on what Parkour is and how it came about.

The word Parkour is derived from the French phrase parcours du combattant which is a method of training used in the military consisting of an obstacle course, and designed by Georges Hebert. le parcours was then used to describe the training involved including running, balancing, jumping and climbing. One of the most interesting parts of Parkour is that it is practiced and performed without any additional equipment. For clothing a Parkour athlete would normally wear light and casual clothing which would normally be loose and non-restrictive.

There currently is no official list of the movement or style allowed in Parkour, there are some fundamental movements that will be seen during most practices. Some of these practices include vaulting and jumping over obstacles, running towards a high wall then propelling yourself up the wall to reach the top, rolling off after the end of a larger drop or jump.

There are quite a few risks associated with participating in Parkour. These range from legal issues such as trespassing and damaging properties, to personal injuries and even death. Although injuries are rare, they can happen and back towards the end of 2014 a 13 year old boy died whilst jumping across Rooftops.

If you’re interested in getting into Parkour then I would recommend going to your local Parkour clubs and learning techniques and tips from people there.